Mentone Park Primary School acknowledges the Bunurong people of the Kulin Nation as the Traditional Owners of the land on which we learn and play.

We value Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander history and cultures’ and recognise their connection to lands, waters and communities.

We pay our respects to Elders past, present and emerging.

Welcome to the start of an exciting final term for 2024.

This term, we are continuing to focus on our students learning with clear, explicit teaching. Our dedicated staff have been working hard to create engaging and enriching lessons that will challenge our students every day.

“I do, we do, you do”

Our teachers are demonstrating learning in Reading and Numeracy by the “I Do” phase of a lesson, this is when our teacher models and explains the knowledge or skills being taught. The next step is “We do”, where all students get the opportunity to work through examples together. The teacher then provides support and guidance as needed, but the students actively participate in the task. The final step is “You do”, in this phase, the students work independently to complete a similar task or solve a similar problem. The teacher provides feedback and support as needed, but the students are responsible for completing the task independently.

The goal of the “I do, we do, you do” is to gradually build our students skills and learner confidence over time by starting with explicit instruction and modelling, which then moves to guided practice, and finally to independent practice. Since introducing the “I do, we do, you do” model at MPPS we have seen an increase in our student’s engagement, confidence and understanding. We are so proud of our little learners!

Welcome To Our New Assistant Principal in 2025!

I am excited to announce that Nathan Hutchins will be joining our school as the new Assistant Principal, Term 1 in 2025. Nathan brings a wealth of experience and enthusiasm to our team, and I am confident that he will contribute greatly to the success and growth of our students and staff at MPPS.

Nathan has 13 years of experience in education and has held various positions in his career, as Leading Teacher Data, Leading Teacher Curriculum & Pedagogy and Acting Assistant Principal ( Junior School & School Operations).

Throughout his career, Nathan has been dedicated to fostering a positive and supportive learning environment, and his passion for student achievement and well-being aligns perfectly with our school’s mission.

I look forward to introducing Nathan to our students and staff next Wednesday. We are fortunate to have someone with Nathan’s expertise, integrity and commitment join us at MPPS, and I am confident that he will be a wonderful asset to our community. Please join me in extending a warm welcome to Nathan Hutchins.

   

Staff update

As Mrs Emily Zienow finishes her final day at MPPS today we wish her well for the next exciting chapter in her life as she begins family leave. We thank Emily for her commitment, hard work and dedication as our STEAM specialist teacher, and especially for her work and passion with the student Green Gang team. We will miss her and look forward to seeing her return next year.

We are pleased to announce that Mrs Lauren Dalziel has been appointed this term as our STEAM specialist teacher. Lauren will commence on Wednesday, and we look forward to having Lauren’s passion and enthusiasm for STEAM at MPPS. Laruen has already spent time at MPPS this week meeting staff and some our students.

Upcoming Events

This term will be a busy term with lots of events planned. A reminder that we have our upcoming Working Bee next Saturday 26th Oct 9am- 11:30am, we are hoping to have a huge turn out!

Also, our staff and students are looking forward to our Grandparent’s and Special Person Day on Friday 1st Nov. The festivities will begin at 9am where we invite our grandparent’s and special friends to meet at the basketball court for our Welcome Ceremony and then will join our students to share in the learning and fun.

Have a lovely weekend,

Leisa

In the Spotlight: 

Welcome back Foundation families, 

It has been a very exciting start to Term 4!

As per usual, the Foundation students have settled back into school without a hitch. They continue to be a very eager cohort of children who love to laugh and learn together.  In the last few weeks of Wellbeing, we have focused on being good helpers, how we can help others, when we can help and who are special helpers for us. We have refined our understanding of who can help them when they have questions and problems at school and how to effectively communicate these. Hopefully, students have spoken to you about who their five trusted adults are at home and school. 

It has been a wonderful start to the children’s final term of school. We can’t wait to see the growth and development the remainder of Term 4 brings.

Reminders: 

Working Bee:

Another reminder we have our Working Bee on Sat 26th of October 9am- 11:30am.  Please see the Compass post for further details and to sign up. Everyone is welcome and we look forward to seeing you and your family at our working bee.

Halloween Dress Up Day: 

On Thursday 31st of October, Mentone Park Primary will be having a dress up day to celebrate Halloween. Please be mindful to send your child to school in a costume that isn’t too scary. The students will enjoy some trick or treating within their year levels. There will also be an opportunity to purchase a $1 Zooper Dooper on the day. All funds will go towards our Year 6 Graduation.  

Grandparents & Special Friends: 

We warmly welcome ‘Grandparents/Special person day’ on Friday 1st of November 9:30am-10:30am. Students will spend time with their ‘Grandparents/Special person’ in the classrooms and then a morning tea in the Hall for Grandparents/Special person. If you are able to please help us by providing morning tea on the day, we would appreciate your support to drop off food at the general office. Grandparents/Special people will need to please meet on the basketball courts at 9:15am and will be escorted to classrooms. We will send out another reminder closer to the date!  

Melbourne Zoo Excursion: 

We are very excited about our upcoming excursion to the Melbourne Zoo, which will support our Inquiry Unit. More information regarding this excursion will be found on Compass in the next coming weeks and regarding parent helpers. 

Reading Parent Helpers: 

We still warmly welcome parents/grandparents to come in from 8:50 - 9:05am each day to read with individual students from your child’s class. The importance of reading for children cannot be underestimated. Reading can benefit a child’s education, social and cognitive development, their wellbeing, and their mental health. Some children take to reading and some struggle, for lots of different reasons. A little extra help can make all the difference to a child by helping them to learn to love reading and reach their potential. Please ensure you are signing in at the office and have an up-to-date WWCC that is provided to Jen in the office.

Below are our current focus letters/sounds and words. Your child would greatly benefit from practising these at home!

Letters/Sounds: wh, th, oo,ng,  

Vocabulary: Gradually, Drooped, Exclaimed, 

Writing: This fortnight we have been focusing on recounts and have been breaking apart the required elements such as a title, orientation, body and linking vocabulary. 

Numeracy: 

This fortnight we have focused on number patterns and number partitioning/part/part/whole. We have been looking at how to create numbers such as 5,10 and 20. In addition, we have been refining our understanding of skip counting, how amazing!!  We focused on counting by 2’s, 5’s and 10’s. 

Thank you for reading our Foundation Newsletter! 
   

Welcome to Term 4! We have had a fantastic start to the term! The students returned refreshed and ready to go! We were so impressed with how the students returned to school life, just like they were there the day before! On Monday, we thoroughly enjoyed our incursion from Hands On Science called ‘Water as a Resource’. They were all involved in multiple experiments including, learning about the Water Cycle, determining the difference between clean and polluted water, acid rain, and everything is a chemical. We also created a mini water cycle and used the rain collected from that activity to water our new seedlings (found inside the window of the Junior Building). Let’s watch them grow!  

Upcoming Event:  

Halloween is Thursday the 31st of October and we will have a dress-up to celebrate. Students can get dressed up in an appropriate spooky costume for the day and enjoy some trick-or-treating in their year levels. Students will also be able to purchase a Zooper Dooper for $1 and all money raised will go towards the Year 6 graduation celebration. 

Zooper Doopers will now be sold on Fridays at lunchtime for $1 until the end of term! 

Literacy:  

Thank you again to all the parents and grandparents who help out with morning reading. Please remember to sign in at the office before coming into the classroom. We appreciate your support - thank you! 

InitiaLit Year 1: 

Tricky Words (sight words): always, animal, open 

Digraphs/Rule: soft c (cents) and soft g (gentle).  

Rule #1: ‘c’ is pronounced /s/ when an e, i or y follow (Eg. cent, city, cycle)   

Rule #2: ‘g’ is pronounced /j/ when an e, i or y follow (Eg. gem, giant, gym) 

Grammar: Contractions e.g. couldn’t  

WOW Words: daydream, notice, concentrate  

InitiaLit Year 2:  

Trick Words (sight words): interesting, would, wouldn’t, women  

Digraphs/Trigraphs: Base words, Prefixes, Suffixes (Review) _dge, _ge, _tch, _ch, _tion 

Grammar: Conjunctions (and, but, or, because and so) 

Helpful Words: launch, appear and collide 

Writing:  

Write a personal recount of the school holidays following the correct structure 

Students wrote a personal recount of some of their favourite events from the school holidays and all the adventures they got up to. We focused on the correct structuring of their recounts and the retelling of events in chronological order. Using words like firstly, secondly, then, next and finally to provide fluency and an accurate retelling of events. 

Write a persuasive text with reasons to convince the reader of their opinion 

Students have jumped back into learning the structure and language of persuasive texts. We have used ‘strong words’ and ‘emotive language’ to convince our readers of our opinions. This week, our persuasive text topic was ‘Would you rather swim at the beach or in a pool?’ Students have worked hard to plan their reasons, and opening statements and are now beginning work on their closing statements before putting it all together to create their final piece. 

Numeracy: 

Identify and continue counting patterns and renaming numbers. 

Students worked on identifying number patterns, finding missing numbers and continuing the pattern. They also worked on renaming numbers (how 345 can be written as 3 hundreds 4 tens and 5 ones or 34 tens and 5 ones) to assist with further understanding their place value of numbers. 

Identify and recreate 2D shapes and numbering their sides and corners 

Students are learning to name 2D shapes such as rectangles, pentagons, hexagons and octagons. We are using vocabulary such as parallel, quadrilateral, straight, intersect, curved, and corners to describe the features of 2D shapes. Students have been excited to see that the world is made up of all sorts of shapes - inside and out! Be on the lookout for shapes at home and discuss their features together! 

Thank you for reading our newsletter and keeping up to date with what’s happening in Year  1/2. Enjoy your weekend!  

The Year 1/2 Team  

Hello Middle School families, welcome back to MPPS for the final term of 2024. We have another busy term ahead of us! In Maths, students have been learning how to use CUBES to help solve worded questions. We have also been revising the division algorithm (“bus stop”). In Reading, we have been reading Kensuke’s Kingdom as well as our independent reading books and practising summarising. In Writing, we are learning about language features and vocabulary used in persuasive texts. Finally, in Inquiry, we have begun to investigate “the world beneath our feet”.

Colour Run

We are hoping the weather holds out for our Colour Run! We will add some pictures from the day into the next newsletter.

Grandparents/Special Person Morning

We would like to invite students’ grandparents or a special person to spend some time in the classroom on Friday 1st November from 9:30am-10:30am. There will then be a morning tea held in the hall. Grandparents/special people will need to meet on the basketball courts at 9:15am and will be escorted to classrooms. Reminders will be sent out on Compass.  

Working Bee

A reminder we have our Working Bee on Saturday 26th Oct from 9am to 11:30am.  Please see the Compass post for further details and to sign up. Everyone is welcome and we look forward to seeing you there if you are able to make it!

Icypole Fridays!

Every Friday lunchtime during Term 4, students can purchase an icy pole for $1.00. All money raised goes towards celebrating our 2024 graduating class.

If you are able to please donate a packet of Zooper Doopers to support our fundraiser (currently $7.20 at Woolworths and Coles Supermarkets), it would be greatly appreciated. Donations can be left at the office.

Halloween

We love celebrating Halloween at MPPS and will once again be doing so on Thursday 31st November. Just a note to be mindful of what you and your child choose for a costume, as some of the younger students can be frightened easily. We also ask that no weapon accessories be brought to school (eg. knives, guns etc.). We will conduct a small trick or treat with lollies across the level. If you do not wish for your child to participate, please let their teacher know.

Reading - To be able to think of questions about what we are reading in our ‘Just Right Book’, building a stronger understanding of the text.

Writing - Read and respond to queries from our class novel, and begin drafting a persuasive text.

Maths - Measure the perimeter and area of squares and rectangles.

Inquiry - Identify and investigate natural processes which change the Earth’s surface over time.

Welcome to the final term for 2024! An incredibly exciting and fun filled term awaits the Senior School as the Yr 5’s prepare for 2025 at MPPS and our Yr 6’s complete their final term of primary schooling before embarking on their secondary adventures. A lot of events will be coming up, so please ensure you regularly check Compass and any other communications.

Recent/Upcoming Events:

• Year 5 Gradwear - During the first week our current Yr 5’s formed teams to design their 2025 gradwear (t-shirt and jumper). The designs were AMAZING and have made voting a very difficult choice. The chosen design will be mocked up and sent through to the company. We hope to have the forms out by the end of next week, requesting sizing and quantity. 
• Year 6 Graduation- Thank you to those Year 6 parents who have volunteered to assist with Graduation celebrations. It’s not too late to get involved and any help is greatly appreciated! In preparation for the slideshow, please remember to provide the following photos by Friday 1st of November:

- A toddler photo (approx. 1-2 yrs of age)

- *Prep photo ONLY if you did not attend MPPS (or photo at approx. 5 yrs of age) 

These photos can be given to Miss Oates or Mr Wilton who will scan and return them the same day. Alternatively, you can send digital copies to:

Madeleine.Oates@education.vic.gov.au or Nicholas.Wilton@education.vic.gov.au  

• Year 6 Kingston Youth Program -  Beginning next Friday, Yr 6 students will participate in 4 sessions with Kingston Youth Services to support their transition to Year 7. Sessions include resilience-building activities and focused, informative discussions to support and guide young people through the change.
• Icypole Friday is back! - To support our Yr 6 Graduation, our major fundraiser is Icypole Friday. These Zooper Doopers will be available for $1 at lunchtime on Fridays, and on other communicated special occasions. If you are able to donate a bag of Zooper Doopers to the office, we would be very grateful! A pack of 24 currently retails for $7.20 at Coles and Woolworths. As we head into warmer weather, keep an eye out for them on special!
• Halloween - We love celebrating Halloween in the Senior School and will once again be doing so on Thursday 31st (see flyer below). As leaders of the school, we strongly ask for Senior Students to be mindful of their costume, ensuring it is appropriate and not too frightening for the younger students. We ask that no weapon accessories be brought to school (eg. knives, guns etc.). We will conduct a small trick or treat with lollies across the level. If you do not wish for your child to participate, please let their teacher know. 
• Student Spotlight - We are incredibly proud of Jordy in Yr 6 who is currently representing Victoria in baseball as a co-captain of her team competing in Cairns. Despite the challenges of the hot and humid weather, Jordy and her team are persevering and we look forward to hearing all about it on her return.
• Respect In Person & Online-  As always, but especially at times of potential heightened tension, it is vital that all members of the school community treat each other with respect, understanding and sensitivity. In particular, students should be reminded of the school values all students are expected to demonstrate and that: 

• disparaging language should never be used, either in person or online, in relation to another person’s race, religion or cultural background
• schools need to be a safe place for all, and all students should take care to avoid being hurtful or offensive to others, even if that is not their intent

Often current events and distressing material posted on social media can trigger strong reactions, therefore we encourage you to have discussions with your children around safe internet use. If you would like some support, please don’t hesitate to reach out to any MPPS Staff members on 9583 4935. 

Some alternate places you can seek help include: 

• Lifeline on 13 11 14 or lifeline.org.au 
• Parentline 13 22 89
• Beyond Blue on 1300 22 4636 or beyondblue.org.au 
• Kids Helpline, for 5-25 year olds, on 1800 55 1800 or kidshelpline.com.au (webchat is also available) 
• Headspace, for 12 to 25 year olds, on 1800 650 890 or headspace.org.au. 

In the event your child should come across distressing content online, please refer to this Fact Sheet or visit https://www.esafety.gov.au/parents for more online safety tips.

Reminders:

• SunSmart - Term 4 is a SunSmart term and students are required to have their school hat everyday. Please ensure hats are clearly labelled. As the days get warmer, we also suggest students apply sunscreen regularly.
• Head Lice - There are no current cases in the Senior School, however when it is around it is never pleasant. Any student with long hair is required to have their hair tied back. Recently we have been providing hair ties for those who do not have one, however we are beginning to run low as it is becoming a daily occurrence. If your child has long hair, please check they have it tied back before coming to school or assist them in doing so.
• Health – Ensuring our students are happy and healthy is our number one priority. As you may be aware, we currently have a student and 2 parents in the Senior School who have either recently completed or are still undergoing chemotherapy treatment for cancer. Due to treatment, their immune systems are compromised, making them highly susceptible to infection and illness. In the event your child or a close contact of theirs is ill, we encourage you to please consider the following:

• Keep your child at home until recovered or advised by a health professional
• Inform the school of any contagious illnesses such as Covid or chickenpox
• Discuss the importance of personal hygiene and hand washing

Further information regarding infectious diseases and the recommended exclusion times can be found here at: https://www.health.vic.gov.au/infectious-diseases/school-exclusion-table#exclusion-periods-table

We appreciate all efforts to help keep everyone here at Mentone Park safe!

Reading: Use comprehension strategies to analyse our rich literature text, ‘A Journey to the Centre of the Earth’ by Jules Verne.

Writing: Generating ideas for narratives from sentence starters. 

PhOrMeS: Read, spell and explain meanings of ‘tract’ Latin base words.

Maths: Review multiplication facts and draw and label maps with grid references.

Inquiry: Explore geological changes and elicit students’ questions about volcanoes.